"Luigi finally takes a step out of his older brother's shadow and into the spotlight in his first starring role"

With his older brother Mario always out saving the Mushroom Kingdom, poor Luigi is usually on the sidelines. sure, he tags along with Mario on his adventures every now and again, but when is Luigi going to get his time to shine? In Luigi's Mansion of course!

Story: It's a normal day at the Mario Brothers household, until Luigi checks the mail, and discovers he's the grand prize winner of a contest! Huh, funny, Luigi doesn't even remember entering any contest, but that doesn't matter because it turns out that the grand prize is a mansion! Still, Luigi is a little suspicious about it so he sends Mario ahead to check the place out, and tells him he'll meet him there. So Luigi heads for the mansion with the map that came with the letter. When he finally arrives at his destination at the edge of a spooky forest , Luigi enters the mansion and discovers it's dark and run down, and Mario is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, a bunch of ghosts ambush Luigi, but he's saved by an old man with a vacuum cleaner. The old man introduces himself as Professor E. Gadd. E. Gadd tells Luigi that this mansion just appeared out of thin air a couple of days ago, and that it's crawling with ghosts, and it seems they've captured Mario! E. Gadd says he's getting too old for this ghost-hunting business, and equips Luigi with the vacuum he was using, called the polturgust 3000, to suck up the spirits and save Mario.

Gameplay: The gameplay style of this game is unlike that of traditional Mario platforming games. In Luigi's Mansion, you aren't jumping or running around like in most of the common Mario adventures, you're searching around the mansion with your vacuum cleaner, sucking up ghosts and trying to find clues to Mario's dissapearence. If I had to categorize this game, I'd call it a puzzle game. You have to move furniture in the mansion, and use your vacuum cleaner in certain areas. Your vacuum also gets elemental enhancements later in the game, which allow it to expel fire, water, and ice, which you'll use to solve puzzles. The game isn't very long either as it can be completed in about 2 or 3 hours. If you want the best possible outcome in the game though, you'll want to collect a lot of treasure, which can be found trunks and cabinets in the mansion. A lot of people are upset by this game being such a departure from the traditional Mario games we've come to know and love, but what they often forget is that this isn't supposed to be a Mario game, it's Luigi's game. Nintendo wanted something unique, if they just made another platformer, it would've just been another Mario game. For his first starring role, nintendo wanted to give Luigi something all his own.

Music/Sound: Most of the game is simply comprised of one theme, but that's not really a bad thing. I liked the theme for this game, it fit the haunting mood it was trying to portray, and it stays in your head. People also complained about the absence of the Mario theme, save for a couple cameos. This didn't bother me because again, nintendo was trying to be unique.

Graphics: The graphics were great, from the close up of the door handle when Luigi goes into a room for the first time, to the dust particles that show up in the shine of your flash light, this game had a significant amount of polish. It really showed what the game cube was capable of, and it really sold the system as a launch title!

Bad: The game was just too short, it's a shame that they couldn't have done more with it.

Good: Nintendo succeeded at what they were trying, they gave Luigi a game that stood out, it wasn't just another Mario platformer with Luigi as a playable character, this was Luigi's own game. The premise also suits Luigi too, the purpose of a horror game is to scare someone. Now since this is supposed to be an E for everyone game, it's obvious that nintendo wasn't aiming to scare any young players with blood or guts. So the fear factor of this game that's set in this spooky scenario falls, not on the players, but on poor Luigi, as you'll see him jump and scream at the sight of a ghost, or shake from fear in a dark hallway. This would've only worked with Luigi, since Mario is known for being more heroic and it just wouldn't have fit his character.

Conclusion: This is a great game, nintendo succeeded in the area they were aiming for. It's a shame it's so short though, personally, I bought the game, but I'd imagine most people would just rent it for it's short length. This is an awesome game, I suggest you get a copy of it if you can find it, and I give it an excellent 9 out of 10.